RELEASE NO: 97-126P

Chesapeake Bay: These images offer two renditions of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) high resolution data over the Mid-Atlantic on Sept. 19, 1997. The top panel is a combination of the three wavelengths (412, 555, 670 nanometers) of SeaWiFS calibrated data as observed by the spacecraft. This color composite highlights vegetation associated with land morphology, e.g., the coastal plain and mountain ridges and valleys. White areas are clouds and dense aerosols. Note that ocean features are not noticeable. The lower panel is a composite of ocean radiances at three SeaWiFS wavelengths (412, 510, 555 nanometers) after atmospheric correction of the data. Ocean patterns are clearly evident such as plumes of material discharging out of eastern Long Island Sound. Red and yellow areas in Chesapeake Bay indicate turbid waters while the blue hues offshore represent clear oceanic water. Black areas such as in the right bottom corner are locations where the processing could not be completed because of cloud cover and other quality control tests conducted during the processing. The SeaWiFS instrument will observe the world’s oceans from space to measure "ocean color." SeaWiFS is an essential component of NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE), an ongoing effort to study how the global environment is changing. Using the unique perspective available from space, NASA will observe, monitor and assess large-scale environmental processes, such as the oceans’ productivity, focusing on climate change.

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PHOTO CREDIT: NASA, or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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